Advertise Here / Support

Social

A Graham Newsletter (#11) Moving on From Crimea, Facebook Ban, Back in Donbass

As you may know, I was hit with two Facebook bans in the last week, the first for writing that I’d enjoyed interviewing Natalya Poklonskaya, in Crimea –

And then, for posting a link to my reportage from the border between Ukraine and Crimea –

The blocks ratchet up every time, the next being for 7 days. Now, you can say what you like about Facebook – expect for if that’s on Facebook itself, but it’s pretty much indispensable to modern life. There are so many friends it’s hard to even contact, were it not for Facebook.

So, I have to roll with that, use Facebook for selfies etc, and other resources, such as here, such as Twitter – @GrahamWP_UK – for serious news. Now, you as a Facebook user are free to share, like, repost my videos. However if I do it, I’ll get a ban, so I do ask you to step up, and, if you like my reportage – share it around.

I’ve recently returned from some 3 weeks in Crimea, the main purpose of which was to make a crowdfunded documentary film a ‘Brit in Crimea (on his holidays)’, which we did. We did that, and I believe what we filmed is absolutely fascinating material, which will, thanks to your crowdfunding support, become a real film.

As for the crowdfunding campaign, that has only a couple of days to go. Final chance to be involved in that – here –

A further purpose of being in Crimea was to do some reportage from there, also supported by the film crowdfunding project, real reportage. I’d been staggered, indignant in turn by the recent Reuters article from Crimea. So a supposedly ‘respectable’ western media organisation gets to go there, write an article widely cited all over the place, but show no evidence of anything they’ve said – not to mention a few way out-of-date photos… read the article here.

I don’t get that style of journalism, ‘he said that, she said that‘… where are the videos, in 2016, where’s the proof? Here are some of my video reports from Crimea, this, Evpatoria, as I ask people there what needs to be done to improve Crimea – (Eng subs on all) –

Here, I speak with Crimean Tatars, to see how life really is for them –

This, a longer report, as I found the man, from Ireland, who arrived in Crimea when it was Ukraine, but stayed, and has stayed, (without a visa) as it became Russia.

On my final day there, I headed up to the border to check out what the real story is there, behind all the rumours, see how it is at the Ukrainian side of the border with Crimea –

And there are many other videos from Crimea too, with more English subs to come on them (including Natalya Poklonskaya). You can find them all here on my YouTube channel.

Of course, I’ve left Crimea now, and am back in Donbass, with quite a bit of reportage to come from here. You’ll be able to catch all of that in the next but one newsletter, as the next one I’ll be giving over to a man who has been pretty much continuously in Donbass since 2014, Patrick Lancaster!